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Posted: 5/11/2022 9:10:59 PM EDT
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/what-it-felt-like-i-took-the-f-16-fighter-to-nearly-mach-2-0/
I was at 25,000 feet when I pushed the throttle forward, rotated it past the detent, and engaged full afterburner— As I maintained my altitude, the jet started to accelerate. At 1.4 Mach, with only about 2 minutes of fuel left, I bunted over and started a dive to help with the acceleration. In my heads-up-display, 1.5 Mach ticked by, backed up by an old Mach indicator slowly spinning in my instrument console. At 1.6 Mach, the jet started to shake. I was expecting it—the F-16 has a flight region around that airspeed that causes the wings to flutter. Still, this jet had a lot of hours on the airframe, and if anything were to fail, the breakup would be catastrophic. Similarly, ejecting at that speed would be well outside the design envelop—the air resistance at Mach 1.6 is about 300 times what a car experiences at highway speeds. A few pilots have tried, only to break nearly every bone in their body. So now, the option was to slow down until the vibration stopped, or push through until it smoothed out on the other side. I was running low on fuel, so I elected to increase my dive so I could accelerate faster. Slowly 1.7 Mach ticked by, next 1.8, and then at 1.9, everything smoothed out. I was now traveling 1,500 mph over the Yellow Sea. The cockpit started feeling warm so I took my hand off the throttle and put it about a foot away from the canopy and could feel the heat radiating through my glove, similar to sticking your hand in an oven. |
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I think there's some F15 drivers in here that have probably gone faster. Maybe they can tell us what it was like.
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Quoted: /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/capReference-550.jpg I wonder how fast my father had been in an F-4 Phantom II.... View Quote At least 2.0 I bet |
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Quoted: It’s fast for any fighter. The published numbers on all the fighters are mostly bullshit. Mig-25 is different though. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: That's pretty fast for an F-16. It’s fast for any fighter. The published numbers on all the fighters are mostly bullshit. Mig-25 is different though. 3+? |
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I went 159 in a Viper on the back strait at Sebring like 20 years ago. Different kinda Viper though.
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Quoted: Honestly I’m not sure but 2.5 I’d say is a good guess. It depends on environmentals, configurations, Pilot nut sack, etc. Those commie jets were fast. Turn radius the size of Texas though. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 3+? Honestly I’m not sure but 2.5 I’d say is a good guess. It depends on environmentals, configurations, Pilot nut sack, etc. Those commie jets were fast. Turn radius the size of Texas though. That thing looked like a brick with two YUGE engines! |
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Quoted: There was one outside the chow hall at Al Assad without its motors and I could have probably stood up in the bay. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: That think looked like a brick with two YUGE engines! There was one outside the chow hall at Al Assad without its motors and I could have probably stood up in the bay. Damn |
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I've climbed around on the SAGEBURNER Bu.145307 Phantom.
BTW, if anyone from the Smithsonian Air & Space museum is reading, one of the fire warning elements in the port engine bay of Bu.145307 is NOT the original one used during Bu.145307's last flight because it was CANN'd so we (MAG-41, Det A / VMFA 321) could get a few more flights out of one of our F-4S before we were fully transitioned to Hornets back in 1991. But we really appreciated y'all loaning it to us for the retirement/transition ceremony (we even washed it)!!! |
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Not to brag, but I went well past Vne driving a friend’s diesel Chevette back in the Cold War era. At WOT, I thought it was going to break up around me as I hit 0.03 Mach.
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Quoted: Honestly I’m not sure but 2.5 I’d say is a good guess. It depends on environmentals, configurations, Pilot nut sack, etc. Those commie jets were fast. Turn radius the size of Texas though. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 3+? Honestly I’m not sure but 2.5 I’d say is a good guess. It depends on environmentals, configurations, Pilot nut sack, etc. Those commie jets were fast. Turn radius the size of Texas though. If they tried doing that though didn't it fry the jet engines and they had to be replaced. Kinda like a 1 and done thing pushing it that fast. |
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Does Mach 2 have any effect on weapon systems functioning properly?
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I'm thinking the ECS knob was just set to max defog, or something.
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Quoted: 2.04 in Concorde View Quote |
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